Green building

This article is about sustainable construction principles.

Reducing waste, pollution and environmental degraFor the building on the MIT campus, see Green Builddation[2]
ing (MIT). For the building in Louisville, see The Green
A similar concept is natural building, which is usually
Building (Louisville, Kentucky).
Green building (also known as green construction on a smaller scale and tends to focus on the use of
natural materials that are available locally.[3] Other related topics include sustainable design and green architecture. Sustainability may be dened as meeting the
needs of present generations without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their needs.[4] Although some green building programs don't address the
issue of the retrotting existing homes, others do, especially through public schemes for energy ecient refurbishment. Green construction principles can easily be applied to retrot work as well as new construction.
A 2009 report by the U.S. General Services Administration found 12 sustainably designed buildings cost less to
operate and have excellent energy performance. In addition, occupants were more satised with the overall building than those in typical commercial buildings.[5]

US EPA Kansas City Science & Technology Center This facility

features the following green attributes:

1 Reducing environmental impact

LEED 2.0 Gold certied

Green Power

Green building practices aim to reduce the environmental

impact of building. The rst rule is that the greenest building is the building that doesn't get built. Since
construction almost always degrades a building site, not
building at all is preferable to green building, in terms of
reducing environmental impact. The second rule is that
every building should be as small as possible. The third
rule is not to contribute to sprawl, even if the most energyecient, environmentally sound methods are used in design and construction. Urban inll sites are preferable to
suburban greeneld sites.

Native Landscaping

or sustainable building) refers to a structure and using

process that is environmentally responsible and resourceecient throughout a buildings life-cycle: from siting to
design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation,
and demolition. In other words, green building design involves nding the balance between homebuilding and the
sustainable environment. This requires close cooperation
of the design team, the architects, the engineers, and the
client at all project stages.[1] The Green Building practice Buildings account for a large amount of land. According
expands and complements the classical building design to the National Resources Inventory, approximately 107
concerns of economy, utility, durability, and comfort.[2] million acres (430,000 km2 ) of land in the United States
Although new technologies are constantly being devel- are developed. The International Energy Agency released
oped to complement current practices in creating greener a publication that estimated that existing buildings are restructures, the common objective is that green buildings sponsible for more than 40% of the worlds total primary
are designed to reduce the overall impact of the built en- energy consumption and for 24% of global carbon diox[6]
vironment on human health and the natural environment ide emissions.
by:

2 Goals of green building

Eciently using energy, water, and other resources

Protecting occupant health and improving employee The concept of sustainable development can be traced
productivity
to the energy (especially fossil oil) crisis and environ1

GOALS OF GREEN BUILDING

U.S. originated from the need and desire for more energy
ecient and environmentally friendly construction practices. There are a number of motives for building green,
including environmental, economic, and social benets.
However, modern sustainability initiatives call for an integrated and synergistic design to both new construction
and in the retrotting of existing structures. Also known
as sustainable design, this approach integrates the building life-cycle with each green practice employed with a
design-purpose to create a synergy among the practices
used.
Blu Homes mkSolaire, a green building designed by Michelle
Kaufmann.

Green building brings together a vast array of practices,

techniques, and skills to reduce and ultimately eliminate the impacts of buildings on the environment and
human health. It often emphasizes taking advantage of
renewable resources, e.g., using sunlight through passive
solar, active solar, and photovoltaic equipment, and using
plants and trees through green roofs, rain gardens, and reduction of rainwater run-o. Many other techniques are
used, such as using low-impact building materials or using packed gravel or permeable concrete instead of conventional concrete or asphalt to enhance replenishment of
ground water.
While the practices or technologies employed in green
building are constantly evolving and may dier from region to region, fundamental principles persist from which
the method is derived: Siting and Structure Design Efciency, Energy Eciency, Water Eciency, Materials
Eciency, Indoor Environmental Quality Enhancement,
Operations and Maintenance Optimization, and Waste
and Toxics Reduction.[10][11] The essence of green building is an optimization of one or more of these principles.
Also, with the proper synergistic design, individual green
building technologies may work together to produce a
greater cumulative eect.
On the aesthetic side of green architecture or sustainable
design is the philosophy of designing a building that is
in harmony with the natural features and resources surrounding the site. There are several key steps in designing
sustainable buildings: specify 'green' building materials
from local sources, reduce loads, optimize systems, and
generate on-site renewable energy.

2.1 Life cycle assessment (LCA)

Taipei 101, the tallest and largest green building of LEED Platinum certication in the world since 2011.

A life cycle assessment (LCA) can help avoid a narrow outlook on environmental, social and economic
concerns[12] by assessing a full range of impacts associated with all cradle-to-grave stages of a process: from
extraction of raw materials through materials processing,
manufacture, distribution, use, repair and maintenance,
and disposal or recycling. Impacts taken into account include (among others) embodied energy, global warming
potential, resource use, air pollution, water pollution, and
waste.

mental pollution concerns of the 1960s and 1970s.[7]

The Rachel Carson book, Silent Spring,[8] published
in 1962, is considered to be one of the rst initial efforts to describe sustainable development as related to
green building.[9] The green building movement in the In terms of green building, the last few years have seen

2.3

Energy eciency

a shift away from a prescriptive approach, which assumes

that certain prescribed practices are better for the environment, toward the scientic evaluation of actual performance through LCA.

3
tude of materials and components each constituting various design variables to be decided at the design stage. A
variation of every design variable may aect the environment during all the buildings relevant life-cycle stages.[14]

Although LCA is widely recognized as the best way to

evaluate the environmental impacts of buildings (ISO
14040 provides a recognized LCA methodology), it is 2.3 Energy eciency
not yet a consistent requirement of green building rating
systems and codes, despite the fact that embodied energy Main articles: Low-energy house and Zero-energy buildand other life cycle impacts are critical to the design of ing
Green buildings often include measures to reduce energy
environmentally responsible buildings.
In North America, LCA is rewarded to some extent in
the Green Globes rating system, and is part of the
new American National Standard based on Green Globes,
ANSI/GBI 01-2010: Green Building Protocol for Commercial Buildings. LCA is also included as a pilot credit in
the LEED system, though a decision has not been made as
to whether it will be incorporated fully into the next major revision. The state of California also included LCA
as a voluntary measure in its 2010 draft Green Building
Standards Code.
Although LCA is often perceived as overly complex and
time consuming for regular use by design professionals,
research organizations such as BRE in the UK and the
Athena Sustainable Materials Institute in North America
are working to make it more accessible.
An eco-house at Findhorn Ecovillage with a turf roof and solar
In the UK, the BRE Green Guide to Specications oers
ratings for 1,500 building materials based on LCA.
In North America, the ATHENA EcoCalculator for Assemblies provides LCA results for several hundred common building assembles based on data generated by its
more complex parent software, the ATHENA Impact
Estimator for Buildings. (The EcoCalculator is available
free at www.athenasmi.org.) Athena software tools are
especially useful early in the design process when material choices have far-reaching implications for overall environmental impact. They allow designers to experiment
with dierent material mixes to achieve the most eective combination.

2.2

Siting and structure design eciency

See also: Sustainable design

The foundation of any construction project is rooted in
the concept and design stages. The concept stage, in fact,
is one of the major steps in a project life cycle, as it has
the largest impact on cost and performance.[13] In designing environmentally optimal buildings, the objective is to
minimize the total environmental impact associated with
all life-cycle stages of the building project. However,
building as a process is not as streamlined as an industrial process, and varies from one building to the other,
never repeating itself identically. In addition, buildings
are much more complex products, composed of a multi-

panels

consumption both the embodied energy required to extract, process, transport and install building materials and
operating energy to provide services such as heating and
power for equipment.
As high-performance buildings use less operating energy,
embodied energy has assumed much greater importance
and may make up as much as 30% of the overall life
cycle energy consumption. Studies such as the U.S. LCI
Database Project[15] show buildings built primarily with
wood will have a lower embodied energy than those built
primarily with brick, concrete, or steel.[16]
To reduce operating energy use, designers use details that
reduce air leakage through the building envelope (the barrier between conditioned and unconditioned space). They
also specify high-performance windows and extra insulation in walls, ceilings, and oors. Another strategy,
passive solar building design, is often implemented in
low-energy homes. Designers orient windows and walls
and place awnings, porches, and trees[17] to shade windows and roofs during the summer while maximizing
solar gain in the winter. In addition, eective window
placement (daylighting) can provide more natural light
and lessen the need for electric lighting during the day.
Solar water heating further reduces energy costs.
Onsite generation of renewable energy through solar
power, wind power, hydro power, or biomass can significantly reduce the environmental impact of the building.
Power generation is generally the most expensive feature

to add to a building.

2.4

Water eciency

See also: Water conservation

Reducing water consumption and protecting water quality are key objectives in sustainable building. One critical issue of water consumption is that in many areas, the
demands on the supplying aquifer exceed its ability to replenish itself. To the maximum extent feasible, facilities should increase their dependence on water that is collected, used, puried, and reused on-site. The protection
and conservation of water throughout the life of a building may be accomplished by designing for dual plumbing
that recycles water in toilet ushing or by using water for
washing of the cars. Waste-water may be minimized by
utilizing water conserving xtures such as ultra-low ush
toilets and low-ow shower heads. Bidets help eliminate
the use of toilet paper, reducing sewer trac and increasing possibilities of re-using water on-site. Point of use
water treatment and heating improves both water quality
and energy eciency while reducing the amount of water
in circulation. The use of non-sewage and greywater for
on-site use such as site-irrigation will minimize demands
on the local aquifer.[18]

GOALS OF GREEN BUILDING

cycled industrial goods, such as coal combustion products, foundry sand, and demolition debris in construction projects[22] Building materials should be extracted
and manufactured locally to the building site to minimize the energy embedded in their transportation. Where
possible, building elements should be manufactured osite and delivered to site, to maximise benets of o-site
manufacture including minimising waste, maximising recycling (because manufacture is in one location), high
quality elements, better OHS management, less noise and
dust. Energy ecient building materials and appliances
are promoted in the United States through energy rebate
programs, which are increasingly communicated to consumers through energy rebate database services such as
GreenOhm.[23]

2.6 Indoor environmental quality enhancement

See also: Indoor Air Quality

The Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) category in

LEED standards, one of the ve environmental categories, was created to provide comfort, well-being, and
productivity of occupants. The LEED IEQ category
addresses design and construction guidelines especially:
Large commercial buildings with water and energy indoor air quality (IAQ), thermal quality, and lighting
eciency can qualify for an LEED Certication. quality.[24][25][26]
Philadelphias Comcast Center is the tallest building in
Indoor Air Quality seeks to reduce volatile organic comPhiladelphia. Its also one of the tallest buildings in the
pounds, or VOCs, and other air impurities such as microUSA that is LEED Certied. Their environmental engibial contaminants. Buildings rely on a properly designed
neering consists of a hybrid central chilled water system
ventilation system (passively/naturally or mechanically
which cools oor-by-oor with steam instead of water.
powered) to provide adequate ventilation of cleaner air
Burns Mechanical set-up the entire renovation of the 58
from outdoors or recirculated, ltered air as well as isostory, 1.4 million square foot sky scraper. Its the pride
lated operations (kitchens, dry cleaners, etc.) from other
of Philadelphias eco-movement.
occupancies. During the design and construction process
choosing construction materials and interior nish products with zero or low VOC emissions will improve IAQ.
2.5 Materials eciency
Most building materials and cleaning/maintenance products emit gases, some of them toxic, such as many VOCs
See also: Sustainable architecture
including formaldehyde. These gases can have a detrimental impact on occupants health, comfort, and producBuilding materials typically considered to be 'green' in- tivity. Avoiding these products will increase a buildings
clude lumber from forests that have been certied to IEQ. LEED,[27] HQE[28] and Green Star contain specia third-party forest standard, rapidly renewable plant cations on use of low-emitting interior. Draft LEED
materials like bamboo and straw, dimension stone, re- 2012[29] is about to expand the scope of the involved
cycled stone, recycled metal (see: copper sustainabil- products. BREEAM[30] limits formaldehyde emissions,
ity and recyclability), and other products that are non- no other VOCs. MAS Certied Green is a registered
toxic, reusable, renewable, and/or recyclable (e.g., Trass, trademark to delineate low VOC-emitting products in the
Linoleum, sheep wool, panels made from paper akes, marketplace.[31] The MAS Certied Green Program encompressed earth block, adobe, baked earth, rammed sures that any potentially hazardous chemicals released
earth, clay, vermiculite, ax linen, sisal, seagrass, cork, from manufactured products have been thoroughly tested
expanded clay grains, coconut, wood bre plates, calcium and meet rigorous standards established by independent
sand stone, concrete (high and ultra high performance, ro- toxicologists to address recognized long term health conman self-healing concrete[19] ), etc.[20][21] ) The EPA (En- cerns. These IAQ standards have been adopted by and
vironmental Protection Agency) also suggests using re- incorporated into the following programs: (1) The United

2.8

Waste reduction

States Green Building Council (USGBC) in their LEED

rating system[32] (2) The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) in their section 01350 standards[33] (3)
The Collaborative for High Performing Schools (CHPS)
in their Best Practices Manual[34] and (4) The Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association (BIFMA) in their level sustainability standard.[35]
Also important to indoor air quality is the control of moisture accumulation (dampness) leading to mold growth
and the presence of bacteria and viruses as well as dust
mites and other organisms and microbiological concerns.
Water intrusion through a buildings envelope or water condensing on cold surfaces on the buildings interior can enhance and sustain microbial growth. A wellinsulated and tightly sealed envelope will reduce moisture problems but adequate ventilation is also necessary
to eliminate moisture from sources indoors including human metabolic processes, cooking, bathing, cleaning, and
other activities.

5
into the O&M phase of a buildings life. The addition of
new green technologies also falls on the O&M sta. Although the goal of waste reduction may be applied during the design, construction and demolition phases of a
buildings life-cycle, it is in the O&M phase that green
practices such as recycling and air quality enhancement
take place.

2.8 Waste reduction

Green architecture also seeks to reduce waste of energy,

water and materials used during construction. For example, in California nearly 60% of the states waste comes
from commercial buildings[41] During the construction
phase, one goal should be to reduce the amount of material going to landlls. Well-designed buildings also help
Personal temperature and airow control over the HVAC reduce the amount of waste generated by the occupants
system coupled with a properly designed building enve- as well, by providing on-site solutions such as compost
lope will also aid in increasing a buildings thermal qual- bins to reduce matter going to landlls.
ity. Creating a high performance luminous environment
To reduce the amount of wood that goes to landll, Neuthrough the careful integration of daylight and electrical
tral Alliance (a coalition of government, NGOs and the
light sources will improve on the lighting quality and enforest industry) created the website dontwastewood.com.
[18][36]
ergy performance of a structure.
The site includes a variety of resources for regulators,
Solid wood products, particularly ooring, are often spec- municipalities, developers, contractors, owner/operators
ied in environments where occupants are known to have and individuals/homeowners looking for information on
allergies to dust or other particulates. Wood itself is con- wood recycling.
sidered to be hypo-allergenic and its smooth surfaces preWhen buildings reach the end of their useful life, they
vent the buildup of particles common in soft nishes like
are typically demolished and hauled to landlls. Deconcarpet. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of American
struction is a method of harvesting what is commonly
recommends hardwood, vinyl, linoleum tile or slate oorconsidered waste and reclaiming it into useful building
[37]
ing instead of carpet.
The use of wood products can
material.[42] Extending the useful life of a structure also
also improve air quality by absorbing or releasing moisreduces waste building materials such as wood that are
ture in the air to moderate humidity.[38]
light and easy to work with make renovations easier.[43]
Interactions among all the indoor components and the
To reduce the impact on wells or water treatment plants,
occupants together form the processes that determine
several options exist. extquotedblGreywater extquotedbl,
the indoor air quality. Extensive investigation of such
wastewater from sources such as dishwashing or washprocesses is the subject of indoor air scientic reing machines, can be used for subsurface irrigation, or
search and is well documented in the journal Indoor
if treated, for non-potable purposes, e.g., to ush toilets
Air, available at http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/
and wash cars. Rainwater collectors are used for similar
journal.asp?ref=0905-6947. An extensive set of repurposes.
sources on indoor air quality is available at http://www.
Centralized wastewater treatment systems can be costly
buildingecology.com/iaq.[39]
and use a lot of energy. An alternative to this process
is converting waste and wastewater into fertilizer, which
2.7 Operations and maintenance opti- avoids these costs and shows other benets. By collecting human waste at the source and running it to a semimization
centralized biogas plant with other biological waste, liqNo matter how sustainable a building may have been in uid fertilizer can be produced. This concept was demonits design and construction, it can only remain so if it is strated by a settlement in Lubeck Germany in the late
operated responsibly and maintained properly. Ensuring 1990s. Practices like these provide soil with organic nuoperations and maintenance(O&M) personnel are part trients and create carbon sinks that remove carbon dioxof the projects planning and development process will ide from the atmosphere, osetting greenhouse gas emishelp retain the green criteria designed at the onset of the sion. Producing articial fertilizer is also more costly in
project.[40] Every aspect of green building is integrated energy than this process.[44]

4 REGULATION AND OPERATION

Cost and payo

codes are written so local governments can adopt them as

bylaws to reduce the local environmental impact of buildThe most criticized issue about constructing environmen- ings.
tally friendly buildings is the price. Photo-voltaics, new Green building rating systems such as BREEAM (United
appliances, and modern technologies tend to cost more Kingdom), LEED (United States and Canada), DGNB
money. Most green buildings cost a premium of <2%, (Germany) and CASBEE (Japan) help consumers deterbut yield 10 times as much over the entire life of the mine a structures level of environmental performance.
building.[45] In regards to the nancial benets of green They award credits for optional building features that supbuilding, Over 20 years, the nancial payback typically port green design in categories such as location and mainexceeds the additional cost of greening by a factor of tenance of building site, conservation of water, energy,
4-6 times. And broader benets, such as reductions in and building materials, and occupant comfort and health.
greenhouse gases (GHGs) and other pollutants have large The number of credits generally determines the level of
positive impacts on surrounding communities and on the achievement.[56]
planet.[46] The stigma is between the knowledge of upGreen building codes and standards, such as the Internafront cost[47] vs. life-cycle cost. The savings in money
tional Code Councils draft International Green Construccome from more ecient use of utilities which result
tion Code,[57] are sets of rules created by standards dein decreased energy bills. It is projected that dierent
velopment organizations that establish minimum requiresectors could save $130 Billion on energy bills.[48] Also,
ments for elements of green building such as materials or
higher worker or student productivity can be factored into
heating and cooling.
savings and cost deductions.
Some of the major building environmental assessment
Numerous studies have shown the measurable benet of
tools currently in use include:
green building initiatives on worker productivity. In general it has been found that, there is a direct correlation
Australia: Nabers / Green Star / BASIX (in NSW
between increased productivity and employees who love
only)
[49]
being in their work space.
Specically, worker productivity can be signicantly impacted by certain aspects
Brazil: AQUA / LEED Brasil / EDGE
of green building design such as improved lighting, reduction of pollutants, advanced ventilation systems and the
Canada: LEED Canada / Green Globes / Built
use of non-toxic building materials.[50] In The Business
Green Canada
Case for Green Building, the U.S. Green Building Coun China: GBAS
cil gives another specic example of how commercial energy retrots increase worker health and thus productiv Colombia: EDGE
ity, People in the U.S. spend about 90% of their time
indoors. EPA studies indicate indoor levels of pollutants
Egypt: (Green Pyramid Rating System - GPRS)
may be up to ten times higher than outdoor levels. LEED Finland: PromisE
certied buildings are designed to have healthier, cleaner
indoor environmental quality, which means health bene France: HQE
ts for occupants.[51]
Germany: DGNB / CEPHEUS
Studies have shown over a 20 year life period, some green
buildings have yielded $53 to $71 per square foot back
Hong Kong: BEAM Plus
on investment.[52] Conrming the rentability of green
building investments, further studies of the commercial
India: Indian Green Building Council (IGBC)/
real estate market have found that LEED and Energy
GBCIndia (Green Building Construction India)/
Star certied buildings achieve signicantly higher rents,
GRIHA / EDGE
sale prices and occupancy rates as well as lower cap Indonesia: Green Building Council Indonesia
italization rates potentially reecting lower investment
(GBCI) / Greenship / EDGE
risk.[53][54][55]
Italy: Protocollo Itaca / Green Building Council
Italia

Regulation and operation

As a result of the increased interest in green building concepts and practices, a number of organizations have developed standards, codes and rating systems that let government regulators, building professionals and consumers
embrace green building with condence. In some cases,

Japan: CASBEE
Jordan: Jordan Green Building Council
Korea, Republic of: Green Building Certication
Criteria / Korea Green Building Council
Malaysia: GBI Malaysia

7
Mexico: LEED Mexico
Netherlands: BREEAM Netherlands
New Zealand: Green Star NZ
Pakistan: Pakistan Green Building Council

United Nations Environment Program UNEP works to

facilitate the transition to low-carbon societies, support
climate proong eorts, improve understanding of climate change science, and raise public awareness about
this global challenge.
GHG Indicator

Peru: EDGE

The Greenhouse Gas Indicator: UNEP Guidelines for

Calculating Greenhouse Gas Emissions for Businesses
Philippines: BERDE / Philippine Green Building and Non-Commercial Organizations
Council
Agenda 21
Portugal: Lider A / SBToolPT
Agenda 21 is a programme run by the United Nations
Qatar: Qatar Sustainability Assessment System (UN) related to sustainable development. It is a comprehensive blueprint of action to be taken globally, nationally
(QSAS)
and locally by organizations of the UN, governments, and
Republic of China (Taiwan): Green Building Label major groups in every area in which humans impact on
the environment. The number 21 refers to the 21st cenSaudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia Accredited Fronds
tury.
(Sa'af)
FIDICs PSM
Singapore: Green Mark
The International Federation of Consulting Engineers
(FIDIC) Project Sustainability Management Guidelines
South Africa: Green Star SA / EDGE
were created in order to assist project engineers and other
Spain: VERDE
stakeholders in setting sustainable development goals for
their projects that are recognized and accepted by as beSwitzerland: Minergie
ing in the interests of society as a whole. The process is
United States: LEED / Living Building Challenge also intended to allow the alignment of project goals with
/ Green Globes / Build it Green / NAHB NGBS local conditions and priorities and to assist those involved
/ International Green Construction Code (IGCC) / in managing projects to measure and verify their progress.
ENERGY STAR
The Project Sustainability Management Guidelines are

United Kingdom: BREEAM

United Arab Emirates: Estidama
Turkey : CEDBK
Thailand : TREES
Vietnam: LOTUS Rating Tools / EDGE
Czech Republic: SBToolCZ

International frameworks and

assessment tools

IPCC Fourth Assessment Report

structured with Themes and Sub-Themes under the three

main sustainability headings of Social, Environmental
and Economic. For each individual Sub-Theme a core
project indicator is dened along with guidance as to the
relevance of that issue in the context of an individual
project.
The Sustainability Reporting Framework provides guidance for organizations to use as the basis for disclosure
about their sustainability performance, and also provides
stakeholders a universally applicable, comparable framework in which to understand disclosed information.
The Reporting Framework contains the core product of
the Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, as well as Protocols and Sector Supplements. The Guidelines are used
as the basis for all reporting. They are the foundation
upon which all other reporting guidance is based, and outline core content for reporting that is broadly relevant to
all organizations regardless of size, sector, or location.
The Guidelines contain principles and guidance as well
as standard disclosures including indicators to outline
a disclosure framework that organizations can voluntarily, exibly, and incrementally, adopt.

Climate Change 2007, the Fourth Assessment Report

(AR4) of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC), is the fourth in a series of
such reports. The IPCC was established by the World
Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to assess scientic, technical and socio-economic information concern- Protocols underpin each indicator in the Guidelines and
ing climate change, its potential eects and options for include denitions for key terms in the indicator, comadaptation and mitigation.[58]
pilation methodologies, intended scope of the indicator,
and other technical references.
UNEP and Climate change

6 SEE ALSO

Sector Supplements respond to the limits of a one-sizets-all approach. Sector Supplements complement the
use of the core Guidelines by capturing the unique set
of sustainability issues faced by dierent sectors such as
mining, automotive, banking, public agencies and others.
IPD Environment Code
The IPD Environment Code[59] was launched in February 2008. The Code is intended as a good practice global
standard for measuring the environmental performance
of corporate buildings. Its aim is to accurately measure and manage the environmental impacts of corporate
buildings and enable property executives to generate high
quality, comparable performance information about their
buildings anywhere in the world. The Code covers a wide
range of building types (from ofces to airports) and aims
to inform and support the following;

6 See also
Natural building

6.1 Green building by country

Green Building in Bangladesh
Green Building in Egypt
Green building in Germany
Green building in Israel
Green building in Malaysia
Green building in China
Green building in South Africa

Creating an environmental strategy

Green building in the United Kingdom

Inputting to real estate strategy

Green building in India

Communicating a commitment to environmental

improvement

Green building in the United States

Creating performance targets

Environmental improvement plans

6.2 General

Performance assessment and measurement

Alexander Thomson, a pioneer in sustainable building

Life cycle assessments

Alternative natural materials

Acquisition and disposal of buildings

Andrew Delmar Hopkins

Supplier management

Arcology high density ecological structures

Information systems and data population

Active solar

Compliance with regulations

Autonomous building

Team and personal objectives

Building Codes Assistance Project

IPD estimate that it will take approximately three years to

gather signicant data to develop a robust set of baseline
data that could be used across a typical corporate estate.
ISO 21931
ISO/TS 21931:2006, Sustainability in building
constructionFramework for methods of assessment for environmental performance of construction
worksPart 1: Buildings, is intended to provide a
general framework for improving the quality and comparability of methods for assessing the environmental
performance of buildings. It identies and describes
issues to be taken into account when using methods for
the assessment of environmental performance for new or
existing building properties in the design, construction,
operation, refurbishment and deconstruction stages. It is
not an assessment system in itself but is intended be used
in conjunction with, and following the principles set out
in, the ISO 14000 series of standards.

Center for Environmental Innovation in Roong

Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability
Copper in architecture for sustainability and recyclability
Copper in energy ecient motors and Copper wire
and cable as energy-ecient electrical conductors
Deconstruction (building)
Dimension stone
Domotics
Earth structure
Eco hotel
Energy Conservation Building Code
Eco-building cluster (in Belgium)

9
Ecohouse (disambiguation)
Environmental planning
Energy-plus-house
EnOcean
Fab Tree Hab
Federal Roong Tax Credit for Energy Eciency (in
the US)
Geo-exchange
GovEnergy Workshop and Trade Show
Green architecture
Green Building Council
Green Home
Green library
Green technology
Glass in green buildings
Heat island eect
Hot water heat recycling
Insulating concrete form
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
List of low-energy building techniques
Low-energy house
Mahoney tables
Nano House
Natural building
Photovoltaics

7 References
[1] Yan Ji and Stellios Plainiotis (2006): Design for Sustainability. Beijing: China Architecture and Building Press.
ISBN 7-112-08390-7
[2] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (October 28,
2009).
Green Building Basic Information.
Retrieved December 10, 2009, from http://www.epa.gov/
greenbuilding/pubs/about.htm
[3] Hopkins, R. 2002. A Natural Way of Building. Transition
Culture. Retrieved: 2007-03-30.
[4] Allen & Iano, 2008[Allen, E, & Iano, J. (2008). Fundamentals of building construction: materials and methods.
Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
[5] GSA Public Buildings Service Assessing Green Building
Performance
[6] Howe, J.C. (2010). Overview of green buildings. National Wetlands Newsletter, 33(1)
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10

[19] - ((hempcrete)). Roman concrete self-healing

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EXTERNAL LINKS

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Productivity and the Bottom Line [Web Log Post]. Retrieved from http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2010/07/08/
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Eect of Eco-Labeling on Oce Occupancy Rates. 2009.
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Perlman, Je. The Cost and Financial Benets of Green
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[59] IPD Environment Code

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Deconstruction

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Trevor MacInnis, EagleOne, D6, Monkeyman, CALR, Discospinster, Rich Farmbrough, Vsmith, ESkog, Mwanner, Marcok, EurekaLott,
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Peter Campbell, Mjoachim72, Rrburke, Pnkrockr, Addshore, Eberzins, Dreadstar, Fredgoat, Sealevelns, Bejnar, Dogears, Krashlandon,
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Faits, Gerakibot, Matthew Yeager, New England, Antonin Lupisek, Happysailor, OrganicQueso, Margarethoward, Nopetro, Jpopolizio,
Mambg, KoshVorlon, Lightmouse, Tombomp, Alice7, Alex.muller, Bmhtayl, Cdgaines, RudolfSimon, Jessicajensen, Asaugutis, Rewang67, Archinect, Alchemist2001, Jbntj, ImageRemovalBot, ClueBot, Redman433, Archerav, Bw66, ImperfectlyInformed, Khan.found,
Wysprgr2005, Valerielgreen, Drmies, DanielDeibler, Adowd, Auntof6, Rockfang, Excirial, Ottre, Cinmit, Rhododendrites, Xochipilli BE,
NuclearWarfare, Nukeless, Ark25, Jehandz, Dpanda, Ranjithsutari, DumZiBoT, Escientist, XLinkBot, Gerhardvalentin, Irishkid3895, Liquidsparkles, Cei2008, Iceland1119, LowImpactLiving, Somedianetworks, Munon, Addbot, Some jerk on the Internet, Captain-tucker,
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Intern8, Purenergy, Andrewglaser, Strong800, Ivanvector, Minimac, Victorysl77, DARTH SIDIOUS 2, Bento00, NerdyScienceDude,
Blueshadow2, SarahBachmann, Antlieberman, ERPinDC, Lunette 18, DASHBot, EmausBot, Sercib, WikitanvirBot, Pequenadiosa, Immunize, Sophie, Look2See1, Zollerriia, Dewritech, Rballengee, NotAnonymous0, Brokerma, Enviromet, Duduziq, TuHan-Bot, Wikipelli,
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jpg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Frank Vincentz
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12

9 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

File:Portal-puzzle.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fd/Portal-puzzle.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Original artist:

?
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cense: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors:

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Inspired from Developpement durable.jpg Original artist:

original: Johann Dro (talk contribs)
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9.3

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